Culverts



Nov. 1, 1960 w. o. RUSSELL CULVERTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 14, 1958 ATTORNEYS Nov. l, 1960 w. o. RussELl. 2,958,200

CULVERTS Filed March 14, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY 7%@ da, nwm/ ATTORNEYS lCULVERTS Warren 0. Russell, Rangeley, Maine, assignor to Kenneil/go Lake Camps, Rangeley, Maine, a corporation of allie Filed Mar. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 721,585

4 Claims. (Cl. 61-16) This invention relates to culverts and more particularly to improvements in the header walls of culverts.

This application is a continuation-impart of my copending application Serial No. 669,563, led July 2, 1957, and now abandoned.

The general object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved culvert installation which is simple and economical to construct and install, and which is peculiarly adapted to withstand the effects of the disruptive movements of the soil under the influence of alternate freezing and thawing, especially as experienced in the central and northern latitudes of the United States.

The effect of frost in the winter season is to raise the ordinary culvert, which usually causes a hump in the roadway above it; and then during the spring thaws, the culvert tends to gradually drop back to its original position. After a thaw the ground level upon which the culvert rests is usually lower than it was at the time of installation.

Under these rigorous conditions, a culvert, as installed in most rural districts without a header plate or wall, is completely at the mercy of these disruptive movements. Thaws and heavy rains bring swiftly running water which washes out the soil and gravel beneath the culvert, causing it to drop or sag, and the supported road to collapse. Tarred roads brack up and gravel roads wash out. This necessitates costly repairs and work must be repeated annually.

In urban districts and on main highways, culverts are usually provided with header walls generally made of cement, which requires the use of forms and gives rise to other costly labor and material items. Also, under severe climatic conditions even the cement headers are lifted along with the culvert itself, and when the culvert drops back into position after the frost is gone, it will be lower than when originally installed due to the entrance of water beneath the cement construction and the resulting wash-out of the sub-soil.

The present invention in its preferred embodiment contemplates the provision of a culvert having a metal header wall which promotes ease of installation and economy of construction over the cement headers; and the invention furtherV provides an expansible header which for the most part follows the seasonal movement of the culvert conduit itself and the adjacent soil movements but maintains a barrier against the washing-out of the soil under such conditions.

The novel installations include a main header wallV to which the mouth of the culvert proper is appropriately secured, and a header extension which is provided with means for substantiallyhanchoring it with respect to the sub-soil and permitting the header plate proper to raise and lower relative to the extension and in overlapping relationship thereto, whereby the in-roads of water during the spring rains and thaws are prevented from undermining the installation.

In one embodiment of the inventive concept, the header proper comprises a double walled plate or panel which patent .ICC

embraces the lower footing or extension panel and serves to guide it in any shifting movements which may occur. In other embodiments the footing panel structure embodies the guiding means, and the header proper is received within said guiding means for insuring substantially co-planar relative movement of the parts of the header. In one of the latter type of constructions, suitable for shallow installations, the header proper is secured only to the lower portion of the conduit while in full installations a supplemental header panel portion is applied and the complete header panel is guided for vertical shifting movement with respect to the footing panel section.

Other objects and features of novelty will be apparent from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which certain embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partial View in vertical transverse section through a road embankment showing a culvert installation embodying the principles of my invention;

Figure 2 is a view in vertical section taken on line 2 2 of Figure 1 transversely of the culvert pipe or conduit;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one header wall and a portion of the culvert conduit;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary top plan view showing a header wall with side wings, following the general principles of the invention;

Figure 5 is a view in elevation of a modified embodiment for shallow installation;

Figure 6 is a transverse vertical sectional view as taken on line 6--6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a top plan view of the same installation;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary View in perspective of this embodiment; and

Figure 9 is a view in elevation similar to Figure S showing a further modified form for deeper installations.

In Figure 1 a rather generalized situation is illustrated wherein the culvert conduit 10 passes transversely through a dirt embankment 11 upon which is supported a road bed 12, although it is obvious that the culvert assembly may be installed in any desired location, such as a railway road bed, or any similar association.

The novel header plate or wall in the lirst embodiment to be described is designated generally by the reference numeral 15 and comprises a principal portion 16 consisting of a folded metal panel element having an outer plate 17 and an inner parallel plate spaced slightly from the outer plate and designated 18. This panel 16 is provided with a circular opening through which the mouth of the culvert conduit 10 extends either with or without a sealing gasket 19.

In order to rigidly secure the header plate to the conduit any suitable means may be employed such as the split tubular sheet metal nipple 20 having a flange 21 riveted or otherwise secured to the rear face of the wall 15 as at 22, the split tubular nipple 20 being provided with spaced securing flanges 2.4 adapted to be held together by the bolts 25.

Inserted between the lower portions of the parallel sheets or plates 17 and 18, constituting the upper header panel element 16, is a downward extension panel element 2'7 which is provided with a foot ange t28 extending at an angle thereto. This extension element 27, when the device is installed, is embedded in the soil of the embankment 11 and the weight of the soil upon the flange 28 prevents any serious upheaval of this extension member even though the conduit 10 and the upper panel 16 of the header wall may be raised under frostmay settle back4 into positionand the embankment wall beneath the culvert not washed out or undermined by the elfect of water.

In the illustrated embodiment, wings 32 are provided at each end of the header wall and the extension panel 27 is provided with similarly shaped `wings 27a which slide within the wings of the upper panel 16.

In installations upon sloping terrain, an extensive outward angling of the header wall may be incorporated upon either side of th'edevice depending upon the slope of the hill in which' the culvert is installed, or angled wings may be providedupon both sides of the installation. Thus, in Figure 4 of the drawings both side edges of the headerplate 15 are provided with extensions 35, the bottom' anchor panel 27 being conformed to the same angularity and' sliding within the parallel plates of the upperpanel 16 in the same way as previously described. Obviously, if the contour of the terrain does not require extensions on both edges, only one of the wing portions 35 need'be provided.

The modiied-form of the invention illustrated in Figures -8 inclusive envisions a conduit 110 employing a header assembly 115 at one end at least, the whole installation embedded in a portion of the sub-soil indicated atk 111.

The culvert header 115, in this embodiment, comprises two telescoping panel elements 116 and 117. The panel element 117 is the anchor member `of the installation, and in order to maintain it in a relatively fixed position within the soil embankment a horizontal foot flange 128 is formed thereon. If desired, the panel element 117 may be provided with bent wing portions 135.

At the extreme edges of the panel element 117 inturned flanges are provided for guiding the correspondingly shaped edges of the other panel element 116.

The panel element 116 is secured to a split sleeve or collar 120 as by means of the weld 152, the halves of the collar 121) being secured together as by means of the bolts 154. It will be noted that in this embodiment the panel element 116 is notched out semicircularly to receive approximately one-half of the circumference of the conduit 110. This arrangement is intended to be used only for relatively shallow installations.

The panel element 116 may, if. desired, beprovided with wing portions 135:1 corresponding to the wings 135 of the yanchor section 117, but at any rate the extreme edges of the panel section 116 are received within the anges l151i and guided for vertical movement therein.

The lower or anchor section 117 is also provided with a semi-circular yrecess in its upper edge indicated at 155 and adapted to accommodate the conduit or at least the sleeve 120 when the sections are overlapping to their fullest extent as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

`In Figure 9 of the drawings there is sh-own a modification of the embodiment just described in which the same elements 116 and 117 `are applied to the end of the Conduit `110, but an upward extension 116a is disposed in vertical alignment with the panel element 116 and is secured thereto by any suitable means suggested by the screwed or bolted clips 161B. The upper panel section 116:1 is notched out as at 155:1 centrally of its lofwer edge to receive the conduit and it may be provided with lateral wings 135b conforming to the Wings 13551 of the principal section 116.

'lt is understood that various changes and alterations 4, may be made in the embodiment illustrated and described herein without departing from the scope of the invention as determined by the suba-joined claims.

Having thusdescribed the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

l1. In a culvert installation for roadways and the like, a conduit, a substantiallyV vertical header wall disposed at the end of the conduit and extending transversely of the conduit, said header wall comprising vertically telescopingrgenerally planar panel elements, means for securing one of said vpanel elements to an end'portion of said conduit and a second panel element being positioned in overlapping sliding relationship to the first named panel element, a substantially horizontal foot flange formed on the lower l'portion of said second named panel element to securely anchor it within the sub-soil upon which the culvert is installed, and means for maintaining saidrst and secondppanel elements in overlapping relation while permitting relativev vertical movement; all whereby uponany upheaval or disruption of the soil adjacent the culvert conduitA which may cause the conduit and its attached iirst named'panel element to raise and lower, the anchored second panel element will remain substantially in place, and the two telescoping panel elements comprisingthe header Wall will effectively maintain a-barrier against ooding.

2. The culvert installation set forth in claim 1 in which thefirst named panel isformed with a semi-circular notch in its upper edge to accommodate the lower half only of the conduit end to which it is secured, and the second named or anchor'panel which is provided with the foot flange'is approximately coextensive with the iirst named panel, whereby a header for shallow culvert installations is provided; anda supplemental panel section having a semi-circular notch in its lower edge to accommodate the upper half of the conduit end, and means for attaching said supplemental panel section to said first named panel in abutting'alignment'with the upper edge of the latter panel and coplanar therewith, for use in deeper culvert installations.

3. The installation as claimed in claim 1 in which the first named panel element is disposed generally upwardly of the position of the second named panel element and comprises a pair of parallelV plates, and the anchored second panel element comprises a single plate received snuglyV between the lower portions of the upwardly disposed parallel plates, whereby relative movement between the rst and second panel elements will be permitted while maintaininga barrier against washing out of the soil.

4. The device as set forth in claim 3 in which the first named panel element is disposed generally upwardly of the position of the second named panel element and comprises -a `folded sheet metal plate, the two folded portions of which are disposed in vertical parallel relationyand the second named panel element comprises a plate received between the parallelr portions of the upwardly disposed plate and capable of relative telescoping movementV within said portions.

References Cited in thele of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,453,136Y Hitchcock Apr. 24, 1923 1,593,488 Dimick July 20, 1926 1,751,194- Elsy Mar. 1S, 1930 2,071,746 Hoak Feb. 23, 1937 2,254,668' Tomek Sept. 2, 1941 2,725,720v Lough Dec. 6, 1955 

